


High School Stories

by MsDizzyDahlia



Series: Fem!Sides Super AU [11]
Category: Cartoon Therapy (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fem!Sides, Janice prefers the more subtle parts of theater, Lola and Rema are Very GayTM, Multi, Ramona and Janice are theater geeks, Ramona loves the spotlight, Toxic Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26486122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsDizzyDahlia/pseuds/MsDizzyDahlia
Summary: One-shots with an overarching plot-ish, set while the girls are in High SchoolRead the rest of the series
Relationships: (Toxic) Janus Sanders/OC, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Pre-romantic Janus/Patton
Series: Fem!Sides Super AU [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907026
Comments: 19
Kudos: 13





	1. Lola Makes Some New Friends

**Author's Note:**

> How Lola met the others
> 
> Chapter Warnings: Implied Toxic Relationship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Lola met the others

Lola’s alarm went off, a jarring, sudden noise that broke through the early morning silence. Lola, however, didn’t even flinch. She was used to this. She sat up in bed, and checked the time on her alarm clock as she shut it off. It was 8:15, exactly fifteen minutes before class started. Anyone else would have panicked, but not Lola. She knew that she had missed the bus, it would have come about ten minutes ago, but she didn’t care. She knew that she would still make it in time.

Lola hopped out of bed and zipped over to her closet before pulling out a simple outfit. Today was dissection day in science, so she chose a short sleeve black figure hugging shirt, as well as a pair of jean shorts. It was only mid spring, but warmer temperatures always seemed to bother her. She preferred it when it was cooler.

After rushing around her room, packing all of her things in her bag and double checking to make sure that she hadn’t missed anything, she zipped over to her bathroom and pulled her hair back, her hands working so fast that the human eye could not pick up on the details. They were simply a blur, yet she knew exactly what she was doing.

When she lowered her hands, her hair was in a ponytail bun, with not a single hair out of place. It was so tight that you couldn’t even tell that Lola’s raven hair was curly. She checked her watch, and frowned. 2:17, it had taken her a minute longer to get ready than it usually did. She grabbed her backpack and flew down the stairs, into the kitchen where her mom was waiting.

“Good morning, sweetheart.” Her mother said, a bright grin on her face. Lola’s mom was always very cheerful, to the point where Lola sometimes found it unnecessary and a tad bit annoying. “Are you excited for dissection day?”

Lola sighed and sat down at the table. “Not really.”

Her mother frowned. “Why not? You love dissection days.”

Lola picked up her spoon. “Be that as it may, lord knows I’ll be paired up with some random kid who won’t do any of the work, and will get grossed out, either by the animal we’re dissecting, or by me because of how enthusiastic I am.” She began speeding through her breakfast.

Her mother hummed. “Well, don’t give up hope just yet, sweetheart. Who knows, maybe your partner will want to be your friend.” Lola didn’t bother to tell her that the only reason anyone ever wanted to be her friend was to use her to do their homework. She finished off her cereal and sped to the door, swinging her backpack over her shoulders and calling out a “Love you!” To her mom on her way out.

Lola took a step outside and shut the door behind her, taking a deep breath before she began running. Lola’s powers were quite the unique, and efficient, set. She has super speed, which allowed her to accomplish tasks much faster than everyone else. It allowed her to get a full night’s rest, and allowed her to finish assignments before the rest of her class had even begun them. Well, it had once allowed her after she had figured out accuracy.

Her other power hadn’t come until much later, as powers tended to do. Her IQ was all the way in the mid 250s, and that combined with her speed made her the best student in the class. Of course, the teachers and students had noticed Lola’s sudden uphill climb in performance. Before, she had still gotten some of the best grades in class, but now, she hardly ever studied, she finished tests, homework assignments, and classwork way before everyone else, and had a 100% average on tests. Word had spread fast, and soon everyone had wanted her to help them with their homework.

Soon “help” became a code word for “I would like you to do my homework for me.” The first few times she had agreed. Then she had realized what they were doing, and she had stopped accepting requests unless someone was genuinely asking for tutoring, and those requests usually came from the younger students.

The problem was that people seemed intimidated by her and her intelligence. She didn’t blame them, she was often intimidated by people who she perceived as smarter than her when she was younger. Still, their being intimidated never did anything to stop them from taking advantage of her.

She knew there was a small group of “gifted” kids that hung out together, but she had never tried to interact with them. She hadn’t felt like she would fit in with them, even if, realistically, they were the only group she could have felt truly included in. Even in the “smart kids” group, she still felt isolated.

Lola skidded to a stop in front of her school, and checked her watch again. 8:22. She still had eight minutes to get to her locker and then to her class. Lola pulled the doors open and walked through the halls, keeping her head straight forward and ignoring the people who eyed her or whispered about her as she walked past.

Even though she would never run in the hallways, they were always too crowded for her to try without running into someone, her natural stride was longer than a lot of others’, and her walk tended to be faster than the average human anyway. She stopped by her locker, grabbed her stuff for first period, which was english, and managed to even stop by the library to return an old book and check out a new one before arriving at her class. She checked her watch one last time and saw that it was 8:28. With a satisfied smile, she sat down at her desk and began prepping for the day.

Biology was her fourth period, right before lunch, and lasting through the first three periods seemed to be both the longest and the shortest wait of her life. By the time third period was over, her stomach was filled with both excitement and dread, both in equal amounts. She managed to stop by her locker, pick up her science binder, and still be the first to the class, without even meaning to. Force of habit, she supposed.

She walked over to her desk and sat down, tapping her fingernail on the surface as others filed in and sat down. They filled up the seats, and began muttering to themselves. Most people didn’t like the dissection days, they found them gross, and weird, and unnecessary. Lola thought they were perfectly necessary, though she couldn’t quite argue with the other two points. It was a little gross, but that just made it all the more fascinating in Lola’s opinion. 

Thirty seconds before the bell, the teacher came back in from printing something, holding a stack of paper in her arms. She set them on her desk before crossing back over and shutting the door right as the bell rang.

As soon as the door clicked shut, one more student popped into the room, causing the students sitting next to her to jump in surprise. Lola didn’t know why they were surprised by this every time. The student was always like that, teleporting in at the last possible second just for the dramatic appeal, which Lola, quite frankly, didn’t find all that appealing.

Rema Prince. She was one of the two Prince twins, and also a member of the small group of “gifteds” that always hung out. She had teleportation, which Lola guessed was her genetic power, because it was a fairly common transportation ability, but Lola wasn’t actually sure what her personality gift was. Surely it had to have surfaced by now, but Rema hadn’t shown it off like she constantly showed off her teleportation. 

Rema’s twin, Ramona, leaned across her desk and hissed something in her ear, to which Rema just replied to by sticking her tongue out at Ramona. Ramona reared back, a mock offended look on her face, before leaning back in and saying something Lola again, didn’t hear. Rema laughed out loud.

The teacher had been writing something on the board, but suddenly she turned around and Ramona shot back to her desk, sitting up straight like the perfect student. The teacher eyed them suspiciously but didn’t say anything. She turned to the rest of the class and smiled.

“Welcome back, everyone. I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. As you all hopefully know, today we will be dissecting frogs!” Lola had to suppress her smile when she saw that no one else looked excited. Except for Rema, and she’s, you know, Rema. She had a reputation for being quite into the more gruesome side of life. “Dissections should be nothing new to you, but if it is, don’t worry, I’m sure your partner will know exactly what to do. And I am always here to help you as well, should you need it.”

Lola could feel the tension in the room rising. Any moment now, she would tell them to pair up, and it would become a race not to get paired up with Lola. Lola worked too fast for most people, they thought she was weird, and they would much rather have a “normal” partner rather than a gifted one who thought she was better than everyone else. Not that Lola thought she was better than them, she just found it frustrating when people didn’t put as much effort into things as she did.

“And one more thing before we get started, as you know, this is a partner activity. Meaning everyone here needs a partner.” It was as if the whole room was holding its breath. “Only this time, we’re going to do something different.” The teacher grabbed a paper off the desk. “This time, I have  _ assigned  _ you partners already. I have noticed that certain people seem to always pair with one another,” She glared at the twins. “And I would like for everyone to try something new. Therefore, I have partnered everyone up with someone they have not been paired with before.”

The news threw Lola for a loop. Normally, kids would rush to find a lab partner, and she wouldn’t even bother getting up from her desk. She knew that no one would willingly approach her and ask her to be their partner, so she would wait for everyone else to pick and then go introduce herself to whatever poor soul hadn’t managed to find a partner in time. But this time… this meant that no one would get a choice. People who had been Lola’s partner in the past were breathing sighs of relief, while others that had previously avoided that fate were tensing up even more now.

Rema and Ramona were just pouting. The teacher ignored all of this, in favor of reading the names off of the list. Ramona ended up getting paired with Jill Reaka, and the two of them high fived, having known one another from theater class. Other kids who were meeting up with their partners were shaking their hands, doing finger guns, high fiving, all sorts of things that just made the empty pit inside of Lola’s stomach grow.

“Lola Berry…” The class held its breath as they waited to hear which unlucky person would get paired with the freak. “And Rema Prince.” She finished. Lola leaned back slightly, blinking in surprise, and wondered if she had heard that right. She… was going to be paired with Rema? Rema, who was rumored to be an absolute psychopath? Who once got into a fist fight because the kid insulted her friend, that Rema?

Lola was kind of stunned. Had the teacher done that on purpose? Chosen the two worst lab partners and stuck them together? It may have been an illogical conclusion, but then again, no one in this school acted logical around her.

Rema seemed to share none of her reservations, as she stood up and walked right over to her, setting both of her hands on the desk and flashing her a manic smile. It was… oddly endearing, how outgoing she was. Lola stood, gathered her materials, and headed to one of the lab tables, which was already equipped with instructions, tools, and the dead frog.

The teacher finished calling out names, and smiled at the students. “If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me. If not, feel free to begin any time.” Lola snapped her goggles on over her glasses, and turned around to see that Rema had also put hers on, albeit, crooked and not at all in the unintentional way.

“I assume you know what you are doing?” Lola said.

Rema grinned and nodded. “I do this all the time at home.” Lola tried not to imagine the orange haired teenager catching and killing frogs before splitting them open and taking them apart. She failed. Miserably.

“Alright. Then let’s begin, shall we?”

Working with Rema was… interesting. She constantly made lewd jokes about the frog, the tools they were using, and the class as a whole. She poked fun of everything, but she was a steady hand, and was actually incredibly skilled, which made Lola wonder if she really had been joking about dissecting things at home. She actually talked to Lola like she was a real person, and not some robot, which was nice. She spouted random facts that had little to no relevance to the task at hand, yet she was so invested in them and the frog itself that Lola couldn’t find it in herself to care.

Rema seemed just as interested in the project as Lola, which was a nice change of pace. And for once, she didn’t have to do all of the work by herself. Rema was just as eager, if not more so, as Lola, and Lola found herself getting more excited as the class went on. It was nice to have someone who didn’t find her interest weird, for once.

At the end of the class, they cleaned up the supplies, and as Lola was packing up, the bell rang. The rest of the class practically sprinted out of the room, eager to get to lunch, but not Lola. She knew she would have plenty of time to eat her lunch, and no one to eat it with. For her, there was no reason to hurry.

Someone set their hands down on her desk, and she looked up in surprise to see Rema staring down at her.

“Do you need something?” She asked, raising an eyebrow and hoping that she would go away. Working with Rema was fun, but she was certain that Prince wouldn’t want anything else to do with her. Rema had her own friends, after all, why would she bother with Lola?

“Do you have any lunch plans?” Well… that was an odd question. Lola shook her head and went back to packing up her stuff. She finished and stood up, but Rema was still there. “Do you wanna sit with me and my friends then?”

The question didn’t fully register in her mind for a full ten seconds, and when it did, she blinked. Had she heard that right? She shook her head, trying to clear it, and trying to wrap her head around the idea of what Rema had just suggested. She couldn’t imagine it.  _ Lola,  _ sitting with Rema and her friends. It seemed preposterous. 

“I-is that a no, then?” Rema said, wilting a bit, and  _ oh god that face.  _ It was like a bullet had just pierced her straight through the heart.

“O-oh, no, sorry, that’s not what I was saying.” Lola raised her hands in a placating gesture. “I-I’d love to sit with you.” What was she saying!? Rema brightened immediately, and something in Lola warmed.

The other girl grinned, and grabbed her stuff off her own desk. “Great! See you then!” And she vanished from the room with an audible pop. Lola walked quickly out of the classroom and wondered what the hell she had just signed up for.

Lola knew that the twins and their friends always sat in one specific spot in the courtyard. It was a lovely place, with a couple of paths, trees, and flowers. Many students chose to eat there instead of eating in the cafeteria, and when Lola pushed the door open into the outdoors, she could see why. It really was beautiful, with friends, siblings, and classmates chatting away. It was a friendly place, and though the conversation dimmed whenever she walked past them, it didn’t take away from the warm feeling at all.

She saw the small group of six girls, among them Rema, sitting on a stone ledge, talking and laughing like everything was perfect, and tentatively approached them. She knew all of their names, of course, having heard them somewhere in the halls, but she didn’t really know them. Rema had invited her here but… what if the others didn’t accept her? The thought made her irrationally nervous. She had dealt with rejection before. She could handle it again.

One of them, Janice, she was pretty sure, noticed her first. Janice had long brunette hair, dark tan skin, and wore a pink dress with frills that didn’t seem to fit her at all. She narrowed her yellow eyes suspiciously, as if wondering what Lola was doing here.

Lola had heard of Janice. Heard she could craft illusions and sense lies, both of which were very fitting powers from what Lola had heard about her personality. She had also heard that she was dating Chet Grant, who was an absolute asshole. What Janice saw in him, Lola had no idea. But many people had seen her glued to his hip, smiling at him, agreeing with everything he said, and never saying anything bad about him.

The others were all currently single, as far as Lola knew, but that wasn’t what she should be focusing on. The others followed Janice’s gaze, and stared at her with varying mixes of reservation, confusion, and suspicion. All except for Rema, who sat up straighter and let out the brightest grin Lola had ever seen.

“Guys, this is Lola. We’re in science together. I invited her to sit with us.” Rema explained. Lola offered a shy little wave, and the others all grinned at her. One of them with blonde hair in a pink blouse, Emily, she was pretty sure, scooted over and made room for Lola on the ledge. She sat down gratefully.

“Nice to meet you, Lola!” One of the others, Pamela, if the light blue eyes, brown hair, and freckles said anything, said. They all took turns introducing themselves, and yeah, Lola already knew all of their names, but for the sake of being polite, she sat through their introductions, and did a small one of her own, despite knowing that they all knew full well who she was.

They all went back to eating after that, and Lola expected for it to just be the six of them talking and carrying on as if she weren’t there, but to her surprise, they actually attempted to include her in their conversations. They asked for her opinion on things, and tried to include topics that they knew she was into. Lola wasn’t sure how she felt about it. It was different from what she was used to, but it was also… nice. The hollow pit in her stomach began disappearing bit by bit, until it was gone entirely, and she was animatedly talking about a chemistry project she had been working on at home that would allow her to perfectly preserve things by encasing them in a thin but durable crystal-like shell. The whole time, Rema was staring at her with an odd look on her face, one that Lola couldn’t interpret.

Eventually, lunch came to an end, and the others began leaving to head to their next classes. Ramona got up and left to go do theater, making a dramatic exit that only she would pull. Janice’s boyfriend came over to retrieve her, and she offered a wide, though slightly strained, smile, before taking his hand and walking off with him. Lola furrowed her brow at the sight, wondering what exactly was the meaning behind that. Then Pamela and Emily got up to go to their next class together, Renae following close behind them.

As she was leaving, Pamela looked over her shoulder and shouted “See you tomorrow Lola!” before she headed through the doors, leaving Lola stunned.

“T-tomorrow?” She whispered. Had she just been invited to sit with them again? This hadn’t been a one time thing? Did they… actually want her here? She turned to face Rema, who was smiling like a little kid.

“Welcome to the friend group, Lollipop.” Before Lola could fully process what had been said, Rema teleported away, leaving Lola by herself in the courtyard.

When she got home, her mother was waiting for her, as she always was. She smiled when she saw her daughter walk through the front door, speeding up the stairs to drop her backpack off in her room before coming back down.

“How was dissection? Did you make any new friends?” She asked in an eager voice. Any other day, Lola would have rolled her eyes at such a childish question. But right now? She couldn’t care less about its nature.

“...Yeah Mom. I did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way powers work in this world is that you are born with one power which is genetic, and passed down through bloodlines, and then later in life you get a second power based on personality.
> 
> Rema’s hair went through a lot of different colors before she decided on green. It was orange for quite a while, before she decided she wanted to try something new.
> 
> Also: Janice went through a lot of changes during high school. You’ll get to see more of it later, but her boyfriend was very abusive and toxic, constantly telling her what she should wear, what she should act like, what she should eat (or not eat), and other stuff like that. As such, Janice’s style is wildly different from what it is in the present.


	2. School Theater Productions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Janice and Ramona met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So one thing I haven't touched on yet but plan to is that Janice and Ramona are really good friends. They're both absolute drama queens and fantastic actors, and they'll often go see a show together and then afterwards critique the special effects the the actors.

Ramona stepped off the stage into the backstage area, sighing as a student ran past her, trying to grab the theater director’s attention. She shouted a goodbye over her shoulder, not directed at anyone in particular, but she still got multiple “goodbyes” in return.

She grabbed her backpack from the pile of bags sitting by the exit before pushing through the doors out into the school hallway. After rehearsal quite honestly one of her favorite times. People were always rushing around, trying to finish their tasks for the day before they went home, and though she loved acting, rehearsing for four hours straight could get a bit tiring.

The few students who weren’t actors that had stayed this late were currently either packing up to leave, or doing their homework. These people consisted of tech crew who had volunteered to help figure out lighting, makeup artists that were practicing on one another, or set designers that still had to work on quick scene changes.

A small girl, Penny, she was pretty sure, ran up to her. Penny was an extra, but she also liked to stay and help out wherever she was needed. Most of the time that consisted of finding people and delivering messages.

“Ramona,” She said. “you’re wanted in the blackbox.” The blackbox was where theater classes took place during the day. It was also where the costume and makeup designers were. Why would she be wanted there? Her measurements had already been taken, so the only reason she would be needed was for fitting, but that wouldn’t be for weeks!

Ramona shook off those thoughts. She’d find out soon enough. She nodded at the small freshman, and smiled. “Thanks for letting me know, Penny. I’ll go there right now.” Penny smiled and entered through the door Ramona had just exited through, most likely to do one more sweep of things to make sure she wasn’t needed before she left.

Ramona walked down the short hallway that led to the blackbox and opened the door. There were only a few people left inside of it, and they were all packing up. Ramona couldn’t fathom why she was needed here. One of the designers, a tall girl with long dark brown hair and dark tanned skin was talking to another, holding a clipboard, and making random marks on it. She was probably the head of costume and makeup. 

Ramona watched as the girl she was talking to stood up, and smiled at her. “I’ll see you tomorrow Janice. Don’t overwork yourself.” Janice smiled and waved at her as she left through the door, leaving the two of them by themselves. Janice seemed to set about organizing the things the others had failed to clean up or left behind. Ramona awkwardly cleared her throat to announce her arrival, and Janice whipped around. Ramona blinked in surprise, her eyes drifting briefly to the light spot that covered half her face before snapping her attention back to Janice’s eyes, which were bright yellow.

Janice smiled at her. “Ah, I was wondering when you were going to show up.”

Ramona rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, sorry about that. The director just released me and Penny only just found me.” 

Janice shook her head. “It’s fine, I suppose. I’m already excused for late homework anyway. I was watching you earlier, you know. Have you always been  _ that  _ overdramatic? I feel like you’re milking your performance a bit too much.” As if to prove her point, she snapped her fingers, and another Ramona appeared in the room. The fake Ramona threw her head back and recited some of the lines for Ramona’s character, who was, of course, the leading lady.

This year the school was doing Cinderella, which was an ambitious project, Ramona had to admit. The school had been wanting to do it for years, but they hadn’t figured out a way to effectively do it justice. There were so many technical aspects they needed to manage, and Ramona had wondered how they were going to pull it off. Now, she figured it out.

“You have powers!” Ramona’s face split into a grin. True, Janice’s eyes maybe should have given that away, but they could always just be colored contacts. Ramona knew there were some people who wore them just for the attention.

“What an astute observation.” Janice deadpanned as she stuck out her hand. “Janice Fox. Head of costuming and makeup.”

Ramona shook her hand. “Ramona Prince.”

“Oh I most definitely needed you to introduce yourself. You  _ definitely  _ haven’t been the leading female role for every school production since middle school.”

Ramona snorted. “Well, you called me here. What did you need?”

Janice pursed her lips. She set her clipboard down and walked over to a stack of paper, picking up the first few sheets and shuffling through them. “Since I am the head of costuming, as well as in charge of making special effects, sets, and props look good, I was tasked with making  _ your  _ costumes, because they include, inarguably, the most important dress in the entire show.” Ramona nodded, and Janice looked up to make sure she was still following along.

“I came up with a design that I really like, but I wanted to see how the gown would look on you before I went ahead with creating it. Yes, I know I could create a mannequin, but I’ve never gotten a good close up look at you and I wanted it to be accurate. I also couldn’t decide on a color. Blue is a classic, of course, but it wouldn’t go well with your warm complexion at all. Silver white was the original color of the dress in the Disney film, but I don’t think I could do that without making it look like a wedding dress, and in turn, it would look too much like the actual wedding dress you’ll wear later. I want this to look original, I want it to be fresh. Everyone’s tired of the classic. They want something new, and I want to give it to them. I want to outdo every production of Cinderella that has ever graced the stage.”

Ramona whistled in amazement. “That’s really ambitious.”

Janice shrugged. “I’m a very ambitious person.”

Ramona laughed. “I can see that. But, how do you plan on seeing how the gown looks on me if you haven’t even made it yet?”

Janice smiled. “You saw my power. Illusions can make just about anything reality.” She moved her finger in a lazy circle, and Ramona looked down to see that suddenly, she was no longer in the jeans and the yellow top she had worn to school, but in a beautiful, if not colorless, gown. It had a ball gown skirt with darker lace covering it, and a bodice decorated with fabric flowers with fake jewels in the center of each one. The sleeves themselves were angel sleeves that trailed down the sides of the dress, and when she looked over to the full body mirror they kept in the room, there was a silver tiara sitting on her head with colorless gems decorating it. 

“It’s beautiful.” She breathed. “I don’t know how you plan on pulling this off but I’m in love with it already.”

Janice smiled, her face warming at the praise. “Well, I think you’ll find that the costuming team is a very dedicated group. Ever since I introduced the concept of working illusions into the show, everyone’s been so much more enthusiastic. Each of us really want this to go well, so we’re all taking some time away from the rehearsals on Saturdays and Sundays to work on the costumes on our own. And you haven’t even seen what kind of wonders some of these people can work with makeup. Now, all we have to do is pick a color. It’s your dress, I figured you could decide.”

Ramona looked down at the white dress, and attempted to brush through the fabric only for her fingers to go right through it, reminding her that it was not real just yet. “I think… red would be a nice color.”

“Red?” Janice asked. “Well, it would go very well with your whole… aesthetic I suppose. I could do red.”

Ramona grinned as the dress turned a blood red, accented with darker shades and white trim along the edge of the sleeves and the neckline.

“That… that does look quite nice, actually. Alright, red it is.” Janice waved her hand and the gown disappeared. She picked up her clipboard and wrote something down on it. “It’s such a shame, really. The school has such a small budget for these kinds of things. When I joined everything was cheap and inexpensive. I’m going to change that. This is going to be a production that no one will ever forget.” She and Ramona smiled at one another, and nodded, before Ramona picked up her bag once more and left.

After that, the two of them hung out at every chance they could get during rehearsals. Janice talked about how she was going to do all of the special effects, and how she was going to work with the sets.

“The thing is,” She said once while they were waiting for the tech crew to finish fixing a light. “The others are all working really hard on these sets. But they aren’t making any of the details happen. They built a raised platform and a staircase for the ballroom, which is impressive for a bunch of high school students, you’ve seen it I’m sure. But I’m going to be the one to turn it into a real ballroom. By the time I’m done with it, everyone in the audience is going to forget that they’re even in an auditorium. I’ve been working on the design for weeks.” 

Ramona giggled. “I have no doubt.” Ramona had asked once if Janice ever got tired while using illusions. She hadn’t asked again. Illusions were easy for her, as long as they weren’t on a physical person. If they were she had to keep an eye on every single small detail, and constantly change it to make sure no one notices it looks weird.

“There is one effect I am particularly excited for, though.” Ramona continued as Janice raised an eyebrow. “The quick change.”

Janice’s eyes flared with recognition. “Honestly, that’s what I’m most excited about as well. The darling who plays the Fairy Godmother is so excited to see how I work my magic, and everyone’s been waiting in anticipation to see what I’ve done with your ball gown. I’ve been hiding it from everyone except the others in costume and makeup for weeks now, and it’s almost done. I just have a few more small details to add and then we can get you fitted.” She grinned and bit her lower lip. “The way it’s going to happen is that you aren’t actually changing costumes during that scene. I’m simply going to make the transformation happen  _ overtop  _ of the other dress. Then intermission is going to happen, and you’ll change during that.”

Ramona grinned. “Sounds like a plan.” Janice was incredibly talented. Her illusion power was amazing, and she was handling so many aspects of the show all at once. She was just as important as Ramona, if not more so. She was pulling all the strings behind the scenes. The sets, the costumes, the magic, even the animals were her doing. Because of her illusion work, they didn’t have to find people to play the mice. It opened up opportunities to add more characters into the show. The whole thing was bound to be amazing.

“Once this production is over…” Ramona said tentatively. “Would you be interested in still hanging out? I mean, my sister and I, along with our friends, all sit with one another at lunch. Would you want to be a part of that?”

Janice bit her lower lip. “I’d have to talk it over with my boyfriend. I usually sit with him and he can get… overprotective. But if he does agree, I’d love to sit with you.” Ramona beamed at her, and she laughed a bit. “Oh, and one more thing.” Janice leaned in close and whispered to her. “Since the costuming team spent their own money on the costumes, they get to keep them after the show. We want to hand them out to the people who wore them, meaning…”

Ramona gasped as the implication caught up with her. “You mean I’d get to keep the ball gown!?” She shrieked. 

Janice burst out laughing and nodded. “Quiet down, though! Someone’s going to get jealous.” 

Ramona grinned at her friend and laughed. “I’m going to have one hell of a prom dress.”


	3. Ramona Feels Bad About Herself; The Others Have Something to Say About That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ramona gets rejected by her crush.
> 
> Hurt-comfort ensues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place in their senior year. The previous story took place in their sophomore year, and the first story took place in their junior

Ramona thumped up the stairs, slipping into her room quietly and barely resisting the urge to slam her door shut before flopping down on her bed, and trying not to cry. Of course,  _ of course,  _ the girl she had a crush on would already have a boyfriend. Just her luck that she had gotten one over the course of the summer and would flat out reject her. She was stupid for thinking she ever had a chance with her. Stupid for thinking she was even into girls.

She was lucky it was the first week of school. There was no homework aside from looking over a few syllabuses that she had read on the bus ride home in an attempt to distract herself from the pain of being rejected by her crush. It hadn’t worked, and had just made her more miserable.

Her sister was a few doors over, blasting heavy metal music, and Ramona rolled onto her side to grab her noise cancelling headphones. She turned them on and waited for the beep that told her they had connected to her phone. Then she took out her phone and scrolled through her playlists before selecting one. 

She got up and wandered over to her window seat, picking up her notebook and a pencil on her way there. She opened up to the notebook and began writing. At first she didn’t know what she was writing, she just wrote. By the time she heard the door to her room open, she had written an entire song that was so angsty she was sure not even the emos would be able to stand it. She ripped the page out in frustration and crumpled it into her fist.

She looked up to see who had come into her room without knocking first, a scowl already on her face. Maybe that wasn’t being fair to them, though. They probably had knocked, and she just hadn’t heard. Rema was still standing by the door, head tilted to the side, a bright expression on her face. 

Ramona paused her music and took off her headphones. “Did you want something?” 

Rema smiled at her. “How’d the confession go?” It was an innocent question, Rema wouldn’t know anything about the rejection, after all. Their schedules didn’t match up this year, so the only time they saw one another was during lunch, and Ramona had waited until after lunch to confess. Despite that, the question still felt like a knife to the heart. Tears started falling down her face even as she tried to stop them. It was just a girl, damnit! She shouldn’t be this worked up about it!

Rema’s face fell. “She rejected you.” It wasn’t a question. “Rara, I’m-”

“ _ Shut up! _ ” Ramona roared. “ _ What do you know! _ ?” Rema looked stunned by this outburst, and hurt. Very hurt. She bit her lower lip, and Ramona’s anger drained from her. She shouldn’t be mad at her sister, she had done nothing wrong. Rema had been nothing but supportive, and had done so much to help Ramona gather the courage to talk to her crush. It wasn’t her fault the girl had already found somebody else.

“Fine, geez. I’ll leave, you clearly don’t want me here.” Rema said, turning around and grabbing the door knob.

“Wait, Rema-” Ramona reached out to her sister. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have shouted. I’ve just had a really bad day.” 

Rema turned around, and sighed. “It’s okay, Rara. We all have those days.” She smiled tiredly at her twin. “But.” She brightened, clapping her hands together. “You are still sad and sulky, and that just won’t do. So,” She teleported right in front of Ramona, grabbed her wrist, and Ramona barely had time to brace herself before she was in the living room.

She let out a surprised cry as she fell onto the couch, as she had teleported about a foot above it. Enough to startle her, but not to actually hurt her or pose any threat of hurting her.

“Rema!” She scolded. “Give me a warning next time!”

“Sorry!” Her sister, who was already in the kitchen, shouted. She could hear something being put in the microwave. Her sister set the time and then pressed the start button, before popping another place and then back into the living room, all the blankets that were stored in the linen closet in her arms. 

“What-” She barely had time to speak before her sister let go of the blankets and half of them fell on her. “Rema what are you doing?”

Her sister didn’t answer, she just moved towards the house phone and picked it up. “Keep an eye on the popcorn, will you? I’m going to call the girls.” The… girls… wait- popcorn?

“Rema, it’s okay, it’s not that bad, we really don’t have to have a movie night-”

“Ramona Genevieve Prince! We are having a movie night and we are going to shower you with affection and make you feel loved and safe or so help me you are going to wake up with bleach blonde hair tomorrow!”

Ramona raised her hands defensively. “Okay, okay, geez.” Rema dialed a number and left the room, and Ramona looked at the mess of blankets around her. She sighed and got up, organizing them and forming a nest, messing with each of them until they were just right for her liking. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang, and she heard Rema answer it. There was a brief conversation that Ramona only half listened to before all the girls stepped inside. Pamela came into view first, followed by Lola, Renae, Emily, and finally, Janice. 

Ramona was surprised by how different Janice looked. At school she always wore dresses and pastels, and kept her hair down. She also usually wore a metric ton of makeup, but here, she wasn’t wearing any. She was wearing a simple black t-shirt and yoga pants. Her hair was tied back in a high ponytail.

“Janice was at my place.” Lola said, seeing Ramona staring. “She likes to wear my clothes.”

“They’re actually really comfortable. And the simple design is a nice change from the stuff I wear to school.” Janice said. She shrugged as if it were as simple as that. Ramona supposed it could have been, and missed the look that Janice and Lola shared.

“Rema said you had a really bad day.” Pamela said. “You want to tell us what happened?” She sat down, and all the others followed suit. Ramona appreciated Rema not telling them exactly what went down, but she did want them to know.

She described her day, the failed confession, and the rejection. She tried not to cry again while bringing it up. The others looked at her with a mixture of sympathy and pity, though she tried to ignore it, seeing as it just made her feel worse. When she was finished, there was silence for a few moments.

Until Emily spoke up. “I’m sorry, Ramona. Being rejected is really hard. Is there anything we can do to help?” Ramona thought about saying no. Her heart was broken, there was nothing in the world that could fix that. Well, maybe that wasn’t true.

“Just… stay with me?” She said instead. Having her closest friends with her might do some good. The others nodded, agreeing. 

Lola smiled subtly. “Of course. Is that not what friends are for?”

“Oh please, we both know you’re only here for my sister.” 

Lola’s face colored, and she looked away, embarrassed. “T-that has nothing to do with this!”

“Sure it doesn’t, specs.” As if to prove her point, Rema popped into the room and immediately walked up to Lola, plopping herself down next to her and wrapping an arm around her. Lola leaned into the touch and rested her head on Rema’s shoulder instinctively.

“So, what movie are we watching?” Janice asked.

Rema held up two movie cases. One was for The Little Mermaid, the other was for Moana. “It’s up to Ramona. Which one do you want to watch first?”

“We’re watching both?” 

Rema rolled her eyes. “Who do you take me for, an ametuer?  _ Yes  _ we’re watching both. And then after that we’re gonna watch two more. We’ll keep going until you stop feeling bad about yourself, even if it takes all night.”

Ramona laughed softly. “Okay. Then I guess… Moana first.” Rema popped over to the DVD player and put it in, before popping back to her place right beside Lola.

Ramona stopped feeling bad about halfway through the first movie, but they kept going anyway. They ended up staying up until three in the morning finishing their marathon, and by that point they all just decided to have an impromptu sleepover rather than go home. Fortunately, all the girls seemed to have thought ahead because they had all packed overnight bags just in case.

Pamela was the first to fall asleep, nestled in Janice’s arms. It was too dark to see, but Ramona was sure Janice’s face was on fire. Janice had a boyfriend, sure, but everyone in their friend group knew it was only a matter of time before they got together. Emily drifted off next, her head on Renae’s lap. Renae started gently caressing her hair, and Ramona resisted the urge to laugh. The two had been dating for a few years now, but they never seemed any less smitten with one another. Rema and Lola drifted off at the same time, so tangled up with one another Ramona couldn’t tell whose limbs were whose. They were closely followed by Renae. Her caffeine was finally wearing off and she was crashing, just like she did at the end of every day.

Then it was just her and Janice that were awake. Janice was looking down at Pamela with the softest expression Ramona had ever seen. A lonely pang went through her heart as she realized that she was the only one without a crush or a girlfriend.

As if she had read her mind, Janice cleared her throat. “Hey um… don’t feel too bad about being single. It’s better to be single than to be trapped in a loveless relationship.” Ramona nodded, not completely understanding what Janice was talking about but realizing she was trying to comfort her. 

Ramona laid on her back, staring at the ceiling, and slowly let herself drift into oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Janice wearing Lola’s clothing is a subtle nod to a highschool story I intend to get into in a few chapters. First we get a bit more fluff tho, so buckle up.
> 
> At this point in the timeline, Janice has realized that her boyfriend doesn’t love her like he used to. However, she is blaming herself for this and thinks she just needs to work harder
> 
> And if you're wondering who this boyfriend is and what he's like, don't worry, you'll find out soon enough :)


	4. The Girls Go to the Movies, Developments are Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lola gets invited along to hang out with the girls while they go see a movie.
> 
> By the end of it, she's getting a new girlfriend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The intrulogical first kiss!! Oh my gosh I've been wanting to write this scene FOREVER!!
> 
> Warnings: None that I can think of, this is pretty much pure fluff

Lola wasn’t even sure why she had been invited on this outing. She was still getting used to this whole friends thing. Before, she had time to do whatever she wanted, anytime she wanted. Now, she was expected to spend time with these people, who had claimed her as one of their own. It was a bizarre concept.

To be honest, she’d thought these people would’ve gotten bored of her and stopped inviting her to hang out at lunch a long time ago. But they had yet to do so. It was… strange. But it wasn’t a big deal, they probably just didn’t want her to feel lonely. They would let her sit with them at lunch and that was all.

But… then why had she been invited to a hangout outside of school? They had decided they wanted to go to the movies, something Lola didn’t actually do all that often, unless it was a nature documentary they were showcasing. And for some reason, they thought to invite Lola along with them.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go, she enjoyed spending time with these girls, even if they were only doing it out of pity. And… Rema was going to be there. She couldn’t possibly say no to that.

And that was another weird thing that had been happening ever since she started hanging out with them. Every time she saw Rema, her face just… started to get warm. She giggled like a little girl every time Rema said something, even if it wasn’t really funny. Just her name was enough to make her stomach do a somersault. She didn’t understand these feelings. She had never experienced them before.

Currently she was in her room, going through all of her clothing items and trying to pick out a suitable outfit. It was late afternoon, and she knew that the others would be here soon. What did one wear on an outing with their… friends? She didn’t think it was supposed to be formal, but she certainly didn’t want to wear something that she would just wear to school. She was panicking, she had never panicked like this before, and she didn’t know what to do.

Her mother thought she was being overdramatic. But she didn’t understand! Lola was an antisocial freak! She didn’t know how to do these things! What were friendships supposed to look like? What were friends supposed to do with one another?

She groaned and flopped back on her bed. She was lucky her father wasn’t here to see her freaking out. He would mock her and tell her that she shouldn’t go, that she should be focusing on her studies, even though Lola barely had to pay attention in classes at all to ace them. God she was glad her parents had gotten divorced.

She sat back up, looking at the clothes scattered across her normally freakishly clean room. Her gaze settled on a cobalt blue skirt that she had not  _ dis _ qualified. Oh, she could work with that. Lola resisted her immediate instinct to pair it with a black turtleneck. That was boring. Her friends wouldn’t want to see her like that.

She got off the bed and picked up a white off the shoulder crop top from the floor. She honestly had no idea where it had even come from, she had never worn it before. It was probably one of the things her mother had bought for her. Her mother was always encouraging her to branch out in her style, and gave her a few pieces of clothing, but she never forced Lola to wear anything she didn’t want to, only gave her the options should she decide to try something different.

She walked over to the closet and pulled the skirt out. It was a midi skirt, high wasted enough that with the crop top she would be showing barely any skin. She sighed and changed into it, looking at herself. She… she liked how it looked actually. She fiddled with her hair, trying to get it to look right. She didn’t want something as simple as a bun or a ponytail, nor did she want it to be overly complicated.

She searched up a few different styles on her tablet, and then her eyes caught on to a messy fishtail braid tutorial. She usually didn’t like messy hairstyles, but she was worried that wearing a tight hairstyle with this outfit might look too formal for a hangout. (Why was she even panicking about it? It wasn’t as if it was any more formal than what she wore to school) It only took her speeding through the video once to get it perfect, and just as she finished, she heard her mom’s voice.

“Honey! Your friends are here!” Lola zipped down the stairs before her mother had even finished the sentence. Her mother startled slightly, then laughed outright. “You got down here quick. Eager much?” 

Lola glared at her mother, who smiled cheekily in response. Quickly, she slipped on her sandals, shoes she had only worn to the beach before but went better than her normal tennis shoes, and slung her purse over her shoulder. She had prepared the purse ahead of time, and it carried basically everything they would need in case of emergency, save for a weapon if a supervillain attacked. She didn’t need a gun to keep her friends safe.

She opened the door and attempted not to look too eager as she stepped outside and walked down the path to the car parked on the street. Rema rolled her window down and stayed silent for a minute, her eyes roving over Lola for a few seconds, before she smiled.

“That was fast.” She said. “I expect nothing less from Lola Berry. Come on, Rara’s picking up Pam and Jan, we’re responsible for the coffee and cartoon addicts.” Lola giggled, and god dammit why was she like this? What was this feeling? Did she love it or hate it?

She opened the door to the passenger seat and slid in, setting her purse on the floor and noting that it was not nearly as dirty as she would have thought Rema’s car would be.

“Yeah, it’s a lot cleaner than you expected, huh?” Rema said, noticing her staring. “It wouldn’t be this way if I had any choice, but my parents would scream at me and also take away my driving privileges forever if I messed it up so…” She shrugged.

“That… seems unnecessarily harsh.” Lola said.

“They’re unnecessarily harsh about a lot of stuff.” Rema responded nonchalantly. Her tone suggested that she got yelled at quite a lot. “It’s fine though, no big deal.” It certainly sounded like a big deal to her parents.

“Alright, if you say so.” Quite frankly, it sounded like Rema’s parents were like her dad, but she didn’t know them personally, so she couldn’t say anything about them for sure. They drove in mostly silence, awkward tension filling the air because try as she might Lola just never knew what to say around this girl. Her stomach always filled with this weird feeling and whenever she tried to talk about something, all that came out was senseless gibberish.

They picked up Renae and Emily without too much trouble. The car became filled with small talk as the two lovebirds talked mindlessly about random things. Lola was actually glad they did, it made her relax as the newly familiar banter filled the space.

They pulled into a parking space of a plaza, filled with cafes and restaurants, and a movie theater as its main attraction. It was a pleasant little plaza, filled with trees and seating scattered around. A few other people were milling about, couples sitting at the tables outside of the cafes, teenagers hanging out under the tree. Another car pulled into the space directly behind them, and Lola had no doubt about who was inside of it.

She climbed out and shut the door behind her. The others in their car got out as well as the rest of their group climbed out from Ramona’s car. Pamela smiled and waved excitedly, bouncing on her toes. Janice was looking at her with a soft smirk on her face, a sort of fond exasperation that was more “Fond” than it was “exasperated.”

“Alright! We’re all here! So, do we want to eat before or after the movie?” Ramona asked, clasping her hands together and looking between all of them.

“Logically, we should eat before. By the time we get out from the movie it will most likely be dark, and we have no idea if the cafes and restaurants will be open by then.” Lola said, tapping her chin.

“Or, third option.” Rema said, brushing against Lola and smirking at her in that way that made Lola’s brain short circuit with emotions. “We could fill up on overpriced theater junk food and skip the dinner altogether.”

Lola furrowed her brow. “That is completely irrational. Why would we-” But the others were already cheering and heading towards the theater. She sighed and followed after them, wondering why she wasn’t regretting her decision to come along with them. They entered the theater and Lola looked around, noting the cheap and illogical pattern on the carpet and the overwhelming smell of buttered popcorn.

Pamela ran off towards the line for snacks, while Rema went to look at the different movies. Part of Lola wondered if she was going to regret letting Rema alone have control over what movie they watched, but she brushed it off. She could deal with whatever her… friend chose. Her face heated again at the word “friend.” She could  _ not  _ control herself for five seconds!

Lola continued staring at Rema, who was now talking to the guy at the ticket counter. The boy looked to be about their age and appeared to be… attempting to flirt with her. She felt hot jealousy rise up within her, and she didn’t quite know why. Rema was gay, she wasn’t going to be interested in him. And why should she care about whether or not some random guy flirted with her? It wasn’t like Rema was Lola’s girlfriend, there was no reason why she should be feeling this way.

She felt someone tap her shoulder and she jumped, startled, whirling around to see Ramona smiling sheepishly at her.

“Sorry.” She said. “I need to use the bathroom. Wanna come with me?” Lola thought this was awfully sudden. Why wouldn’t she have gone by herself if she needed to use it? But… going to the bathroom before they saw the movie was a reasonable move, so she nodded. The two of them headed towards the sign that hung above the entrance to the restroom and pushed through the door. Inside was peaceful, as there was no one else in here but the two of them, and the quiet was nice. Loud places were never Lola’s thing.

Ramona didn’t head straight for one of the stalls like Lola expected she would. Instead she headed to the sink, checking her makeup in the mirror. Lola didn’t know why, Ramona’s makeup was always flawless. 

Ramona suddenly turned back to Lola and offered her a cheeky grin. “You’re into my sister, aren’t you?” Whatever Lola had been expecting her to say, it had  _ not  _ been that. Lola sputtered for several long moments, trying and failing to think of something to say. Her face felt like it was on fire, and she wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and die.

“ _ No _ !” She shouted, much louder and more forcefully than she meant to. Ramona seemed physically taken aback by this, shock written all over her face. Lola knew why, she was never this intense when it came to emotions.

Quickly, Ramona’s shock melted back into a smug grin. “You totally are, aren’t you?”

Lola shook her head. “Why would you even think that? I’m not interested in her at all.” She wasn’t. Really.

“Really? Cuz that’s a lot of emotion for someone you aren’t interested in.” Ramona said, and oh, Lola wanted to slap that smug smile off of her face so badly. She opened her mouth to answer, but… well… she didn’t have a good response to that. It…  _ was  _ completely out of character for her to respond so vehemently to something.

Ramona took her silence as an opportunity to continue. “It’s so obvious. You’re always staring at her when you think no one is looking at you, the look in your eyes whenever you see her and the way you giggle every time she says anything at all. Your whole body language shifts whenever she comes into the room. You get way more fidgety and play with your hair and bite your lip, and honey you could not be more obvious if you went outside screamed about your undying love in the middle of the plaza. Not to mention the pure,  _ naked _ jealousy I saw on your face when that ticket counter guy started flirting with Rema. Don’t bother denying it.”

Lola was silent. Was it… was it really so obvious? Ramona had noticed and read these things like it was nothing but… Lola hadn’t even realized she had been doing them. Maybe she did subconsciously, but the changes in her behavior whenever Rema came around… she had never even noticed that they happened at all. Oh. Oh she was  _ so  _ into Rema.

“I see someone has come to a realization.” Ramona said. Lola without hesitation flipped her off, but Ramona only sighed. “Look, you have no idea how into you Rema is. I’ve had to listen to  _ so many _ of her rants about how absolutely breathtaking you are. Not that you aren’t pretty, of course, but Rema is so freaking in love with you it’s becoming obnoxious. You don’t have to do anything, obviously, it’s your choice, but just know… the others and I have been watching the two of you dance around one another for months now. The romantic tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Just… think about it. That’s all.” She offered a smile.

Lola was still processing everything. Rema was into her? Rema, as in, Rema Prince, chaos incarnate, was interested in someone as boring as her? She took a deep breath, and shook her head to clear the thoughts.

“Thank you for telling me this.” She said, each word careful and measured. Then without another word, she turned and walked out the door, completely forgetting the whole reason she had gone to the bathroom in the first place.

The movie Rema ended up choosing was a relatively new sci-fi movie. Lola had to admit, it was rather entertaining, even if some of the scenes were incredibly gruesome and completely unnecessary. She spent the entire movie critiquing everything about it, from its costumes to the special effects to the way it handled suspension of disbelief. The whole time, she kept thinking about what Ramona had revealed to her in the bathroom.

When they emerged from the theater, the sun had not yet fully set, but was quickly disappearing. They started walking back to their cars, and Lola watched Rema out of the corner of her eye, noticing how she got more tense every step they took. 

Just when Lola was about to ask what was wrong, Rema suddenly stopped and turned to face Lola. “Hey. Can we. Talk?” She said haltingly. Lola gave her a confused look but nodded, and Rema grabbed onto her wrist and suddenly they were in the space between two buildings. Lola startled slightly, unused to the sensation of teleporting. She turned to face Rema, who was nervously clenching and unclenching her fists.

“What did you need?” Lola said, her voice perfectly calm even though her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She was not as oblivious as people thought she was, and she was incredibly aware that she was currently in a tight space with no one but her crush.

“Lola, Lollipop, I…” Rema started, but she trailed off and stayed quiet for a few minutes. “I-I have to tell you something.” Lola nodded encouragingly, and if she leaned forward just a bit in anticipation, no one said anything.

“ _ I like you _ !” Rema blurted, suddenly and  _ loudly. _ Lola physically took a step back, and she saw that Rema’s face was bright red. “I- I’m  _ really  _ into you. Like- so much so that it’s becoming a problem. And- I know it’s stupid, because I don’t even know if you like girls, but ever since we were science partners that one time I can’t stop thinking about you like- I can’t stop thinking about how beautiful and graceful and amazing and  _ perfect  _ you are but I know you don’t like me back because why would someone like you be interested in someone like me? I’m the devil incarnate and you- you’re good enough to be an  _ angel _ . But Ramona said to go for it and I’ve been holding it back for weeks now because I was afraid of rejection and-”

Lola held up one hand, and gripped her head with the other. There was so much going on in her head she didn’t even know where to begin! Ramona- Ramona hadn’t been lying! Lola hadn’t believed that she had been, but there was still that doubt saying that she was just messing with Lola. Rema was actually into her? She… her face felt like it was going to explode in the best kind of way, and she didn’t know what to say or do because she had never been in this situation before!

“I…” She started, but it took her a few more tries to actually say anything. “I don’t even know what to say, Rema!” Rema lowered her head, looking like she was expecting rejection. “Because- because I haven’t been able to stop  _ thinking  _ about you. Ever since we met, all I can think of is you, what you would think of something, what you would want, and it’s… God- I-I’m  _ so _ in love with you. I didn’t even realize I was before your sister basically smacked me over the head with it but I am! I always have been! I just- I guess I thought that… someone as energetic as you… wouldn’t be interested in someone as… boring as me.”

Rema looked shellshocked, and it stayed silent for a couple minutes before she shook herself out of it. “What are you talking about? You’re one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met! You aren’t boring, you’re… you’re  _ incredible.  _ You’re so smart and talented and  _ fun _ . That stunt you pulled last week with the fire in biology? That was  _ amazing.  _ Lola you’re…” She trailed off, and Lola’s vision blurred. She knew she was about to cry, and for once she didn’t want to stop it, because she never thought that anyone would ever want her for  _ her _ , would appreciate her for more than just her intelligence, and what they could get out of her. Yet here she was. How did she get so lucky?

“...Can I kiss you?” Rema said. It was so quiet Lola almost didn’t hear it, and it took a full five seconds for the question to fully register. When it did, her eyes widened, and she took a step back. Rema misinterpreted it, and rushed to fix it. “You can say no of course! I-if you’re not ready then we don’t have to but-”

“Yes.” Lola said, her voice breathy. 

Rema stopped and her eyes went wide, glittering with hope. “Yes?”

Lola nodded fervently. “ _ Yes! _ ” And that was all she could get out before Rema slammed their faces together. Kissing Rema was… wow. It was intense, but Lola loved it. She had never done this before, and she doubted she was very good, but it didn’t matter right now. For those few minutes where they stayed together, it was heaven.

Rema finally pulled away after what felt like too little time, breathless. “That was my first time kissing someone like that.” She said, grinning like a maniac.

“That was my first time kissing someone period!” Lola exclaimed, her grin just as wide as she fanned herself with her hands and trying not to pass out. She had kissed Rema. She. Kissed. Rema. “Does… does this mean we’re a couple now?”

Rema shrugged. “If you want that, then yeah.”

Lola nodded. “I definitely want that.” The two of them walked back to the others holding hands. Ramona was wearing a smug grin on her face, and Renae huffed, digging out her purse and placing a five dollar bill into Ramona’s outstretched hand.

“Finally! Took you two long enough to figure it out!” Janice called, looking just as smug as Ramona.  _ Hypocrite _ , Lola thought, looking between her and Pamela. Oh well. The two of them would get together eventually.

Lola and Rema held hands throughout the entire car ride home, and Rema walked Lola up to her front doorstep when they arrived, giving her another kiss before returning to the car. She waved over her shoulder, not saying anything but conveying a promise all the same. Lola unlocked the door and stepped inside, quickly shutting and locking it once more before racing up to her room, falling straight onto her bed and staring up at the ceiling. She couldn’t stop smiling, not even when she fell asleep.

Today had been a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo! Intrulogical established!
> 
> Next in the series: Another high school chapter, the history of Lola's blue hair!


	5. The Origin of Lola's Blue Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dating Rema was really rubbing off on Lola.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: There is one curse word. That's it. This is really fluffy.

Renae was sitting on the stone bench in the small courtyard, leaning back and basking in the sunlight while eating a sandwich. The others were all eating their lunch and talking, mostly about their classes. Most of them were present, but Lola and Rema had yet to show up. Which was odd, considering that they were the fastest members in their group, and could literally go from one end of the building to the other in less than five seconds. 

She knew the others had noticed, Ramona was impatiently tapping her fingers on the stone, Emily was sitting up a little straighter than she normally did, and Janice and Pamela were quieter than they usually were, though only slightly. They were all wondering where they were, and what was taking so long.

This wasn’t the first time it had happened. Since the two had started dating a week or so ago, they had taken to walking with one another, instead of teleporting or speeding through the halls. Normally Lola’s anxiety about needing to be on time or getting in trouble with a teacher would have kept her from doing so, but ever since she and Rema had gotten together, she had been way more relaxed. Which was a good thing, obviously, Renae was glad the girl was loosening up. She just wished that they wouldn’t take so long to get here.

Just as she thought this, she looked around the courtyard, and the door to the entrance opened, their two missing members stepping out. Renae’s jaw dropped, and the others immediately followed her gaze. All of them quickly adopted expressions similar to Renae’s.

She knew that Lola had been getting more comfortable around them, but… wow. Ever since they had met her, Lola had been neat and organized, almost freakishly so. Her hair was always pulled out of her face, her clothing never had so much as a single wrinkle, and she dressed more often than not like she was going to some formal event. She called it “business casual,” Renae called it “too much.”

But now… her hair was down. It wasn’t in a loose ponytail or anything like that, it was actually down, and falling in her face. On top of that, she was wearing a hoodie. A. Hoodie. What!? Renae hadn’t even known her hair was wavy! Her hairstyles were always so tight that it was impossible to tell. She had always assumed it wasn’t completely straight, but she was still caught off guard by it.

Well, she had to admit that Lola did look really good with her hair down. The casual style suited her, though she imagined this might not be too common of an occurrence.

“Apologies for being late.” Lola said as they approached the group. “Rema forgot her notebook back in the classroom and insisted on walking there instead of teleporting.” She sent her girlfriend a playful glare.

“Can you blame me for wanting to spend more time with you?” Rema responded, a teasing smile on her face. “Don’t pretend that you didn’t enjoy it.” 

“I can neither confirm nor deny that fact.” She said, leaning away slightly but not letting go of her girlfriend’s hand. Renae looked between the two of them and back at the group, wondering who was going to address the elephant in the room.

“Lo-Lola!” Ah, so it was going to be Pamela then. “Your hair!”

Lola furrowed her brow and gave Pamela a confused look. “Yes? What about it?” 

“C’mon Specs, don’t play dumb.” Ramona jumped in. “You’ve  _ never  _ worn your hair down before. It’s always been in a ponytail at the bare minimum, and even that was rare.” Lola’s body language shifted suddenly, and she reached up to fidget with her hair, twisting a lock of it around her finger.

“Does… does it not look good?” She asked, biting her lip nervously. 

Renae scoffed out loud. Did this girl seriously have no idea of how attractive she was? “Puh-lease, girl. Don’t act like you aren’t the hottest one out of all of us.” She heard Ramona mutter a petulant “Not out of all of us.” under her breath while pouting, and rolled her eyes. Drama queen.

“Well  _ I _ think it looks lovely.” Rema said, sliding onto the bench next to Ramona.

“Of course you would.” Janice said, laughing. “But please, Lola, it looks great. Although I am curious about your outfit. It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’d even own.”

A slight tint colored Lola’s chestnut skin, and she smiled a bit at the floor. “It’s actually Rema’s. Ramona went over to Janice’s to finish the costumes, so Rema ended up inviting me to come over and… study. It ended up turning into an impromptu sleepover, and in the morning since I didn’t have anything to wear, she lent me one of her hoodies.”

“I’m surprised Rema even had something that modest.” Ramona joked. Rema hit her lightly on the arm. “How come I didn’t see you when I got back home?”

“We were holed up in that room for a while Rara.” Rema chimed in. “Plus we’re late sleepers. Lola can get ready for school in under a minute, and I literally don’t have to do any walking, so we slept past when you left for school.” She smiled cheekily.

“Wow.” Ramona said simply, going back to her lunch. They continued chatting as usual, and Renae noticed Lola sneaking glances at Rema every so often. Specifically looking at her hair. Rema’s new hair color of choice was silver. It was a lot more muted than her usual choices, after all, one of her favorites was traffic cone orange, but Rema seemed to really like it, and it did look nice.

Renae shrugged it off. Lola and Rema were enamored with one another. If the others had thought it would get better after they got together, they were sorely mistaken. In fact, it only seemed to get worse, though maybe they should have expected that. When lunch period reached its end, Emily tugged gently on her shirt sleeve, a silent invitation to walk to class with her that she extended everyday. Still, the request never failed to make her cheeks heat up. Maybe she should stop teasing the others about being overly romantic.

She cleaned up her leftover food, and closed her lunchbox, standing up and offering an arm to Emi, who took it. The two of them headed off with a wave to the others and the typical “see you tomorrow.” She could hear their conversations, and listened in on them for as long as she could before reaching her classroom and stepping inside.

~~~~~~

“Theoretically.” Lola said, causing Rema to look up from her science homework. Lola usually came over to study with her, although depending on the day she could only stay for a certain amount of time. “If I were to dye my hair, what color do you think would go best with me?” 

Rema sat straight up. “Where is this coming from?” She asked, a small laugh bubbling from her lips.

Lola sighed and twirled her pencil in her hand. “I was simply curious. I do not know much about hair dye and you always look amazing with it. I was wondering if I would look that good with hair dyed an unnatural color.”

Rema gave her a bewildered look. “Babe are you kidding me? You’d look fantastic!”

Lola gave her a hopeful smile. “You really think so?” Rema nodded enthusiastically, trying not to show just how eager she was and failing miserably. Lola laughed softly, and chewed on the end of her pencil. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

“Which one?” Rema raised an eyebrow.

“The one about which hair color I should choose. There are far too many for me to decide on my own, especially considering I don’t know anything about the process.”

Rema hummed, tapping her pen on her chin. “Well, since your hair is black, I’d say we should use a dark color. You don’t really seem taken by any of the warmer colors like red or yellow, and green is already kind of my brand. After the silver fades I think I’m going to get green next. Would purple interest you?”

Lola thought about it for a second before shaking her head. “I don’t really know about purple. I mean, maybe? I think it could look okay, but I just don’t know if it’s a yes or not.”

Rema hummed “Yeah, I get that. Well what about blue? That’s like, your signature color, is it not?” She asked. She giggled at the way Lola’s brow furrowed, with that adorably thoughtful look on her face.

“Blue… maybe. It’d be a darker blue, yes?” Rema nodded when she looked up. “Well… I suppose that could work. I… I don’t know though. What if it looks bad?”

Rema rolled her eyes. “It could be an absolute mess, and you know I’d still love it. Maybe I’d love it even more, I like messy.” Lola shot her a look that just screamed “not helping.” Rema sighed and took her girlfriend’s hand carefully. “Okay, how about this? I have a huge stash of temporary dyes that can easily wash out if you want to get rid of it. If you decide that you don’t like it, we don’t have to do it again. If you decide to go with it, I can take you to a salon and we can get it done professionally. I mean, I’ve used temporary dyes to test out colors before.”

Lola chewed on her lower lip, contemplating this option. After a few moments of silence, she nodded. “I’d… I’d like to try it if you don’t mind.”

Rema grinned and clapped her hands together. “Great! I’ll get the dye. I have a lot of extra, Rara bought it for me even though I told her she didn’t have to. She wouldn’t listen.”

Lola froze. “Wait- we’re doing this right now?” 

Rema rolled her eyes as she walked over to the closet and pulled out the dye. “Yeah, why not? Would you prefer not to do it now?”

“No I just… wasn’t expecting that you’d be up for it right at this moment. We have homework to do, after all.”

“Oh fuck homework.” Rema said, screwing up her face. “You and I both know that it doesn’t take that long. We can do this now and finish the homework later.”

Lola took a deep breath. “Alright… You said it washes out right?” Rema nodded. “So wouldn’t it just come out when I took a shower tonight?”

Rema smirked. “Yeah, that’s kind of the whole point. If you decide you don’t like it, no one will even know about it. If you do like it, I can reapply the dye to your hair in the morning, if you’re willing to stay the night here again.”

Lola swallowed. “That… that would be nice.”

~~~~~~

Lola kept her eyes shut while her girlfriend applied the dye. She didn’t understand why she was this nervous. Really, it was just irrational. Her girlfriend was skilled at this kind of thing and she really didn’t have any reason to worry. After all, she could always wash it out. But these rational thoughts didn’t stop her anxiety from building up. What if it didn’t look good? What if Rema laughed at her? What if she wasn’t able to get it out? Rema said that it would wash out when she washed her hair tonight but what if it didn’t?

“Would you relax?” Rema said suddenly, causing her to jump a bit. She felt her girlfriend grip a gloved hand on her shoulder, which was covered by a towel. “Stop it. You shouldn’t tense. Do you have any faith in me?”

Lola sighed and slumped down, willing her muscles to relax. “It’s not your fault love. I am simply being irrational.”

“Nah it’s okay. I understand being nervous. I was nervous as hell the first time I tried this out. Ramona and I spent a long time trying to understand the process before we went ahead with it.” She removed the hand and went back to work, humming along as she went. Finally, she tapped Lola’s shoulder. “Okay, you can open your eyes now Lollipop.”

Lola cracked her eyes open ever so slightly, tensing up as she prepared herself for whatever she was going to be presented with. She saw her reflection, and froze. Was… was that her? She fully opened her eyes and stared at herself. No, that couldn’t be her. It looked… it looked so  _ pretty _ ! Rema had chosen a dark cerulean color, which complimented her dark skin and stood out. She…  _ loved  _ it. It just felt… so right. She loved it so much. Lola reached up to touch it, and sucked in an awed breath. She looked so different.

“I take it you like it then?” Rema said in a light tone. Lola nodded vigorously, a grin quickly spreading across her face.

“I love it!” She shrieked. She turned around and launched herself at her girlfriend, tackling her to the ground and kissing her with passion. Rema barely hesitated before returning it as well.

“Well then,” Rema pulled back. “We’ll get it done tomorrow.” Her face softened into a look of pure adoration. “You look really good, Lollie.” She said softly.

“Thanks.” Lola said, her face burning. She knew that the others would be surprised tomorrow when she showed up to school. First wearing her hair completely down, and now dying it a completely new color. Being with Rema was really changing her. But… maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up Next: Daya likes to make flower crowns for her friends and family


	6. Janice's Boyfriend is a- *Technical Difficulties*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lola learns something new about Janice's relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Mentions of gaslighting, abuse, and manipulation, abusive romantic partners, injury (bruising)

It had been a completely normal afternoon. Lola had gone home from school, done her homework, and spent the rest of the afternoon texting Rema, going back and forth about so many different topics that if one were to read their conversations, they’d be almost impossible to keep up with. They were making plans to go out somewhere that weekend, potentially to an arcade, when Lola had heard someone knock on her door.

She had assumed it was her mom, who was known to be absentminded and forget her house key from time to time, so she sent Rema one last text with promises to continue the conversation at school tomorrow and hopped out of bed. She zipped down to the front door, just a blur of blue and silver, and unlocked it, pulling it open and expecting to see her mother’s apologetic smile and maybe an armload of grocery bags, since it had been a week since she had gone out to the grocery store last time.

She was  _ not _ expecting it to be Janice. And she was certainly not expecting Janice to be crying. Immediately, Lola panicked. Janice never cried, she always acted like she was above feelings, unaffected by her emotions, though all it took was one look at the way she looked at Pamela to prove otherwise. 

But it was clear as day, right now. Her eyes were red and puffy, with tear tracks running down her face. The makeup she always wore to school was completely ruined, most of it wiped off, and she wasn’t even bothering to cover up her vitiligo. She usually hid it when she was in public, except for drama club, though Lola had never actually seen her in drama club. She knew what it was like to hate part of yourself though, so if hiding it made her feel better, then it was not her place to take away that comfort.

“Janice? What’s wrong?” She asked. Janice swiped at her eyes, further smudging the remaining makeup that was already running down her face in thick black lines, almost like ink. 

“S-sorry.” Janice said, her voice cracking. “I- you were the closest and- just…” She trailed off, as if unsure of what to say next. “Can I come in? Please?” She sounded so broken. Whatever happened, it must have been serious. Lola stepped to the side, and Janice hurried into the house, her arms crossed over her chest and her hands gripping her forearm, her nails digging into them.

Lola shut the door behind her, her concern growing with every second. The dress Janice was wearing was stained with coffee, and Lola winced. Getting hot coffee spilled over you was not a pleasant experience. She would know, it had happened to her before.

“It looks like you need a change of clothes.” Lola said, gesturing to the stain. “I can see if we have anything that fits you.”

“O-oh, n-no, it’s okay.” Janice said, raising her hands in a placating gesture, even though Lola hadn’t shown any signs of being irritated or upset. “It’s just coffee. It wasn’t even that hot when it was spilled. The stain will come out, don’t worry.” 

“Well, perhaps that is true, but I know from experience that hanging around in stained and wet clothing is not a fun thing to do. I’ll be right back.” She zipped up the stairs and went straight to her bedroom and closet, pulling out the plain black hoodie her father had gotten her for her birthday last year. It was way too big for her, as her father never bothered to check what size she was before buying her clothing, and would probably fit Janice. Then she went over to her mother’s closet and pulled out a pair of sweatpants she wore while hanging around the house. This would probably work.

She zipped back down the stairs and saw that Janice was now sitting down in one of the chairs, trying desperately not to get any coffee on it. Lola cleared her throat to grab her attention and zipped over to the other girl, holding the clothes out.

“Go change.” She instructed, while Janice was looking at the clothes with a slightly bewildered look. “You aren’t staying in that dress. Take a shower and change, I’ll worry about the stain. Just hang it on the rim of the laundry basket.” Janice hesitantly took the clothing and nodded. She trudged up the stairs sullenly, and a few moments later, Lola heard water running. 

While she waited for Janice to finish, she made tea for the both of them and thought about what could possibly have happened to have pushed Janice to the point of crying. It was… scarily out of character from the cool, confident, smoothtalker that she usually was.

Janice spent more time at her boyfriend’s house than her own, partly because her boyfriend liked to spend a lot of time with her, and partly because her parents were, while not outright abusive, weren’t very affectionate. They worked long hours and didn’t pay her much attention, and she kind of had to do everything herself. Kind of like Lola’s own father, except less mean and more just cold. Maybe Janice had just gone home instead of going to her boyfriend’s and had had to face them? It didn’t make total sense, but that was the best option she could think of. That or… it might have had something to do with her boyfriend. 

Lola wasn’t an idiot. She knew something was up with Janice’s relationship. The strained smiles, the winces and how she seemed to prefer spending time with them rather than her boyfriend, and almost avoided him at times. But strains and disagreements between couples weren’t unusual, and she knew it wasn’t really her place to get involved. If they were on the verge of a breakup, that wasn’t her business. She’d just be there when Janice needed her in the aftermath.

She had her suspicions that it went deeper than that of course, but without any solid evidence, she wasn’t willing to take that risk of being wrong. She didn’t want to sow any distrust between the two of them just because she imagined a conflict that wasn’t real.

As Lola was thinking, she got lost in her thoughts, and soon, Janice was thumping back down the stairs, hair now wet and tied back in a ponytail, and in the set of clothes Lola had gotten her. They fit her well, though the sweatshirt was still a little baggy on her. 

Lola took a moment to wonder how on Earth her dad had screwed up so badly that he had bought her a hoodie that was too big for someone who was 5’8. Seriously, Janice was one of the tallest girls in their grade, and honestly her dad’s efforts just felt extra lazy now.

Lola shook off those thoughts and grabbed both of the tea mugs, crossing back over to the living room and setting down one of the mugs on the coffee table. She sat down on one of the chairs and attempted to take a sip from her own mug, though she quickly realized it was still too hot for that. Janice plopped herself down on the couch, across from where Lola was sitting, and Lola noted that she was hiding her hands in the sleeves of the hoodie. It was almost as if she was trying to hide within it.

“I apologize, I know the clothes aren’t in your usual style.” Lola said casually, tracing the rim of her cup but watching her cautiously to gauge her reaction. Janice blinked, looking at her slightly surprised, as if she hadn’t really realized she was being asked a question. Ah, she had probably zoned out.

“Oh, it’s fine.” She said after a moment, looking down at her hidden hands. “I actually don’t mind this. I usually wear a lot of dresses and stuff like that, so it’s nice to wear something casual for once.”

“I see.” Lola replied. Janice seemed distinctly uncomfortable, and picked up the tea and sipped it, barely even reacting to how hot it was. 

Lola was a little concerned by how easily she could read Janice. Normally she was terrible at picking up on the other girl’s emotions, and the others weren’t much better. The fact that she could read her like a book… well, she didn’t know what that said aside from the fact that Janice was seriously upset.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, neither of them wanting to address the elephant in the room, knowing that the other would probably just go along with it. But logically, Lola knew that it had to be addressed. And seeing as Janice didn’t seem likely to open up about it on her own, Lola knew she had to be the one to do it.

“So.” She began, blowing on her tea and testing the temperature once more. Hmm, maybe she should get a couple ice cubes. “Do you mind explaining what happened?”

“Oh, it was nothing really.” Janice said, looking away. For someone whose entire power set revolved around deceit, she was a very bad liar when she was emotional. “Sorry for freaking you out. I’ve just had a long day and had a fight with my boyfriend that got… pretty intense. It’s okay though, I’m sure that we’ll make up by the end of the week.”

Lola’s eyes narrowed. “A normal fight isn’t the sort of thing to get you so worked up like this. Did… something else happen during this fight?” Something flickered in Janice’s eyes, but Lola couldn’t quite place it. It looked almost like… panic? Fear? But that didn’t make any sense, why would Janice be afraid of Lola?

And then she saw it. It was just a flicker, so brief she could have easily brushed it off as just imagining it. But Lola had long ago learned not to brush those things off, and to trust her instincts. At first she didn’t understand what it was. It just looked like a red mark on her cheek, a circle almost. It dawned on her that it looked about the size of a fist, almost as it… someone had punched her. 

“Janice…” She said, and Janice straightened, her eyes flickering all over Lola’s face warily. “Please tell me I didn’t just see what I thought I saw.” She tried to keep her voice even and calm, she didn’t want her friend to panic, but it clearly wasn’t working. The emotion in Janice’s eyes increased, and okay yep, that was definitely fear. But fear of what exactly? It didn’t seem directed at Lola, at least, not directly, and then she saw it again. Flickers. The thought that came to her made her stomach sink. She was using her illusion abilities to hide a bruise. “Janice, where did you get that bruise?”

“Wh-what bruise?” She tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. “I’m totally fine.” Lola frowned at her dishonesty.

“Janice please. Be honest with me.” She pleaded. Janice’s grimace-smile disappeared in an instant. Her mouth clamped shut and she shook her head, fear increasing at a faster and faster rate. Lola was beginning to piece together the beginnings of an idea of what this was. The fact that if it had been an accident, she wouldn’t have been crying about it, her aforementioned fight with her boyfriend… it was all starting to paint a very ugly picture, and Lola wasn’t sure if she wanted the answer to her questions.

“Did… did your boyfriend do that to you?” She asked softly, hoping against hope that she was wrong for once despite the fact that it was the most logical solution. The reaction was immediate, and told Lola everything she needed to know. Janice’s eyes widened and her body stiffened, filling with a primal fear that made Lola’s chest ache. 

“No!” She said, trying for a casual tone that might have been convincing if it had not been ruined by the waver in her voice. “Of- of course not! Where would you even get that idea, that’s completely…” She trailed off, seeing that Lola wasn’t buying it, and sighed. She took another sip of tea and set her mug down, staring at the floor. 

“It’s not his fault.” She said quietly. “Don’t blame him for this.”

“It’s not his  _ fault _ !?” Lola was trying to stop herself from shouting, knowing it wouldn’t help the situation and failing rapidly. “Janice, how is this not his fault? He  _ hit _ you! He  _ hurt _ you!” Anger bubbled up in her chest, but not at her friend. If she ever got her hands on this boyfriend of hers, she was going to-

“No! No, you don’t understand! I told you, we got into a fight. He just has trouble controlling his anger. He always apologizes after he’s calmed down! Really, it’s my fault, I’m the one who aggravated him when I  _ knew _ he had a headache. And… and he’s trying so hard, but it’s not like I make it easy for him. I wear the stuff he wants me to wear and hide my vitiligo because he doesn’t want me to get made fun of for it and do everything he tells me, but I’m not perfect and obviously I mess up a lot so it  _ is _ kind of my fault he gets angry in the first place.”

Lola was starting to see red. She stood up and started walking towards the nearest house phone, clenching her fists and feeling her nails dig into the skin. “Janice, it is not okay that he takes his anger out on you. It doesn’t matter if he has anger issues or not, that shouldn’t be your problem. He should work on it himself, so don’t make excuses for him! I’m calling the others. They need to see this and Rema-”

“ _ NO! _ ” Lola stopped, caught off guard by the pure level of force behind Janice’s voice. She turned around, and saw Janice’s eyes were wide and pleading. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. “Please don’t.” She said, her voice much quieter. “Please, you know how they can get. If they find out about this, Rema especially, they’re going to go after him. Then he’ll know I told him about this and he  _ hates _ it when I tell people about our fights. He doesn’t like it when I paint him as the bad guy, and he  _ can _ be really sweet so… please, just don’t.”

There was so much in her statements that made Lola want to find Janice’s boyfriend and show him exactly what she thought of him. Doesn’t like being painted as the bad guy? Doesn’t want people to know about their fights? And on top of that, pinning it all on Janice and saying it was all  _ her _ fault? It made her want to scream. 

But realistically, she knew that she had to be careful with this. This boyfriend sounded like a gaslighting, abusive, manipulative asshole, but that also meant he was probably trying to isolate her, a common gaslighting tactic. Confronting this now, and forcing the issue, could not only be seen as trying to control her and used against her at later dates, but could also help to push that goal of isolation. If she wasn’t careful, she could end up pushing Janice away instead of helping her.

So she let her shoulders drop, and sighed, walking over to the couch and sitting down next to Janice. “Okay.” She said, her voice soft. “I won’t tell them. This is your relationship, and you should always have a say in it. You shouldn’t let other people do things to you that you aren’t comfortable with, and I’m sorry I tried to push you like that. If you ever need a place to stay for whatever reason, after a fight, needing to take a break, anything, you’re always welcome here.”

Janice let out a breath of relief, which made the fire in Lola’s body grow even more. There was so much she wanted to do in that moment, so many things she wanted to say, but she settled for just pulling her in for a hug. Janice stiffened for a moment, but then she relaxed, and leaned into the embrace. 

“Thank you.” She whispered, her voice sounding wet.

“Of course.” Lola replied. “Now, let’s get some ice for that bruise.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay wow that was really sad now that I read that over again :(
> 
> The worst part is this that the next piece is going to be even worse. (maybe)
> 
> Next up: The moment you've all been waiting for! We're finally diving into V's backstory!


End file.
